In prepared testimony released ahead of two Congressional hearings about health care affordability, UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen J. Hemsley said that the insurer will voluntarily offer rebates of any profits its makes this year to consumers within the individual Affordable Care Act (ACA) market.
Hemsley is one five health insurance CEOs scheduled to appear before two House hearings on Thursday to discuss how to lower health care costs in the United States. CEOs from CVS Health, Elevance Health, The Cigna Group, and Ascendiun (the parent company of Blue Shield of California) will also appear before the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health.
The hearings were scheduled in the wake of the failure of Congress to extend the enhanced ACA premium tax credits, which will result in millions of Americans facing significantly higher premiums this year. The subsidies expired at the end of 2025 and annual premiums are expected to rise an average of 114 percent from $888 to $1,904.
Lawmakers want to discover the root causes of the spike in health care prices and find ways to lower costs.
In his written testimony, Hemsley said the cost of health insurance is driven by the cost of care and premiums are based on how much care is used and how much is charged for that care. When the price of care and care activity increases, the cost of health coverage follows. “It is a symptom not a cause,” he wrote.
While UnitedHealth is the largest health insurer in the country, it has a small share of the individual ACA market. However, Hemsley said the organization plans to “voluntarily eliminate and rebate our profits this year for these coverages as Congress continues to work toward more long-term solutions.”
In addition, he suggests lawmakers broaden consumer choice within the market, such as expanding eligibility to lowest-cost plans or catastrophic plans and allowing consumers to apply premium tax credits to these plans. This will allow individuals to have more affordable coverage options while maintaining essential protections, he wrote.
Hemsley also suggests standardizing broker compensation in the ACA market to better align broker incentives with consumer interests, promote objective plan selection, and help consumers choose coverage based on value, affordability, and access to care.
Beyond the ACA market, Hemsley suggested that Congress consider lowering health savings account thresholds and broadening the scope of covered services for high-deductible health plans; addressing site of service issues; expanding flexibility for association health plans; reforming patent laws; restricting direct-to-consumer advertising; and addressing disparities between domestic and foreign drug prices.